JezC Posted April 27, 2023 Share Posted April 27, 2023 Very sadly my old lead singer recently passed away with a brain tumor. Really not fair ... he was amazingly talented. Very unexpectedly, and very kindly, he left me his Flying V. I didn't even know he had one! It sounds totally amazing, with the brightest humbuckers I have ever heard. I have tried to date it, but I'm getting confused because some things don't seem to match up. I could really do with some expert advice please? It says Made in USA on the headstock , and the serial, which is quite hard to read, is 7 digits [400042]. Gibson serial numbers seem weird, but the only info I could find suggests it might be 1967 but I could be wildly wrong?? The tuners have obviously been replaced at some point [see back of headstock]. The case is obvoiusly old. But this things that don't seem to match up with that date are the knobs, and tha fact that it is a hard tailpiece rather than a trem. It's been well-played, but for all I know it's a reissue. Has anyone got any words of wisdom? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JO'C Posted April 27, 2023 Share Posted April 27, 2023 Hi JezC, First off, my condolences on losing your friend. And nice V! At least you'll have something that will constantly remind you of him. I'm no V expert so I can't tell by looking at it what era it is from. But I do know quite a bit about Gibson dating as I have/had some from the late 60's and had to do a lot of research to accurately date them. I know that it is not a '67. Gibson used ink stamped serial #'s up until 1969. From 1970 on they stamped the serial# along with Made in USA on the back of the headstock. You state the serial# has 7 digits but the number you give only shows six. If it is in fact 6 you likely have a 1974-1975 guitar. If you remove the pick guard and gets pics of the underside of the pickups and the date codes on the potentiometers you can easily nail down the dates. A mid 70's humbucker would have a Pat. No. stamped into the metal on the backside and would likely be called a T-top pickup. A late 60's humbucker would have the Pat. No. on a small black sticker. This is an easy, sure way to determine the year. If you do remove the pick guard however you need to be quick. Plastic degrades over time, so plastic that is nearly 50 years old might not be very stable depending on the environment it was stored in. The screws are holding it in place. As soon as the screws are removed the tension holding the plastic is released and it may start to shrink. This happened to me when my tech removed the pick guard from my 1966 Fender Jazzmaster. Luckily he noticed and got it back in place in time. You can safely remove the pick guard to take pics for a few minutes but don't leave it off for days. Just saw a '75 on Reverb.com with a serial# 400542, so 500 more than yours. Yours could be a '74 then. The pics all check out as the same era as yours. Good luck. Looks like it is quite valuable also based on pricing for ones for sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JezC Posted April 27, 2023 Author Share Posted April 27, 2023 Sorry ... yes ... 6 digit, not seven. Thanks so much for such a complete breakdown. This makes a lot of sense. I will definitely remove the pick guard soon to investigate further. I have a rare gig on Saturday, so didn't want to disturb anything before then. I will get back here to post my findings. I will take onboard your wisdom about the plastic. Nice to know it may have some value but I'm definitely not selling it. I thought I wan't a 'V' kinda guy, but after playing it ... I most definitely am. I will always remember my friend when I play it. I am so grateful you took the time to post ... off to buy some spandex ... or maybe not ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JO'C Posted April 27, 2023 Share Posted April 27, 2023 You're welcome. Many others here have helped me in my past quests for Gibson knowledge and I'm happy to help out. I also wanted to point out that the tuners are period correct. It is likely that sometime in its past someone swapped out the original Kluson tuners for Grover's or Schaller's and then someone else put Kluson's back on. Klusons back them had a poor reputation for not staying in tune. I have a '69 ES-335 that this was done to and it has similar screw holes showing on the back of the headstock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanHenry Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 Really sorry to hear of the loss of your friend. Regarding your V sounding great, I can't remember ever hearing one that didn't, it must just be something about them. I can understand if you are reluctant to take the pickguard off given the advice JO'C gave you regarding the degradation of the plastic, so I think it might be worth contacting Gibson with the serial number (they'll probably want pictures of the guitar as well) to see if they can help you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted April 30, 2023 Share Posted April 30, 2023 On 4/28/2023 at 8:35 AM, IanHenry said: I think it might be worth contacting Gibson with the serial number (they'll probably want pictures of the guitar as well) to see if they can help you. sorry about your buddy, I know how this feels, I've lost a few, one was my wife's brother who I played in bands with for many years. I agree with Ian's advice. It might take some time to get a response, but it will be the definitive answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckbat1 Posted May 7, 2023 Share Posted May 7, 2023 Nice guitar! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JezC Posted May 10, 2023 Author Share Posted May 10, 2023 Thanks everyone. I'll contact Gibson and get back to you🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanHenry Posted May 10, 2023 Share Posted May 10, 2023 5 hours ago, JezC said: Thanks everyone. I'll contact Gibson and get back to you🙂 Great, we'd love to know🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil OKeefe Posted May 19, 2023 Share Posted May 19, 2023 My condolences for your loss. Please do contact Gibson Customer Support. They should be able to help you accurately date your Flying V. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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